NOTES FROM AN INFO CARAVAN WHEN GOVERNMENT SERVICE WAS TRULY FOR THE PEOPLE

They were the worst of places, the most beautiful places.
The ambiguity sums up Kapangan and Kibungan, twin towns in the Western Cordilleras near the Ilocos Sur border.

The first attribute refers for the most part to a mountain road system that needed immediate care and attention. The most expert of drivers with the most durable vehicle could experience nightmare negotiating that stretch, especially that part after the bridge at Boneng, which is rocky and narrow and a miscalculation could plunge us into the ravine.

The second attribute refers to spectacular scenery and majestic mountains. It was a sky without clouds and green was the dominant color of trees, rice terraces and vegetation. Soaking in nature at eight in the morning is good for the spirit and suddenly, we, caught in the freshness and vibrancy of new surroundings, felt new and vigorous as an overpowering sensation surged through us: it is good to be alive!

Photo caption: One of the canals of the Magat River Irrigation Systems in Aguinaldo, Ramon, Isabela

LAGLAGIP

from my album

Cigarette-smoking Blas Ople, then Labor Minister, was the guest of honor and speaker, his booming voice exhorted the writers. The young and sultry Imelda Papin was the guest singer and her husky voice, capturing the anxiety and loneliness of unrequited love, filled the office of Focus Magazine in Port Area, Manila.

It was in the evening of January 13, 1979. The cold wind from the bay wafted through the windows.It was the magazine's Sixth Annual Literary Award honoring the year's outstanding writers in poetry, essay and fiction. The winning writers included Peter La. Julian, Prescy Supnet from Narvacan, Ilocos Sur; Sammy Sta. Maria, Benjamin Afuang, Joel de los Reyes, Romeo Navarro, Enrico Enerio, Maximo Ramos, then former dean of a college in the University of the East; and Wilfredo L. Aberca.

Prescy, then 17-year old wisp of a girl, is now Chancellor of the University of the Philippines in Baguio. She won in the essay category; this mannurat, in poetry, with his Today Arrives the News of Dolorosa Dans, which was about the fall of a demi-god in the government bureaucracy. (the girl in the far left beside PLJ in the colored photo) of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, -.
Also present during the award rites were Minister Jaime Laya and a Budget Minister, I can not as yet recall the first and last name and the late Kerima Polotan, then editor of the magazine and one of the country's better essayists. Kerima's husband, Juan Tuvera, a senior journalist from San Esteban, Ilocos Sur, and a government propagandist.

The decade was ending, and Ferdinand Marcos' martial law regime was in its 8th year.

Years later in February 2010, I met Priscilla, a Ph.D holder, for the second time. It was during a Panagbenga Poetry Reading at the Audio-Visual room of UP Baguio's College of Languages, Arts and Communication, where I read Daldalliasat in Iluko and partly in its English version. It was as if that affair in Manila happened yesterday. But we have grown old and still slim, only a few pounds added to our weight since 1979.

Photo captions: a page from the Focus magazine; PLJ poses with the late Kerima Polotan (black and white photo)
The 4 of my 5-man staff of the Department of Public Information provincial office in Ilocos Sur: Elmer Peredo, Ben Pacris, Orlando Pedro (my driver and photographer) and PLJ.

to be continued

ARGUMENTS WRITTEN IN BLOOD VS. HOLLOW ARGUMENTS

Gloria Arroyo's lawyers have concocted arguments in an attempt to save their client whose neck is fortified with braces. The Filipino people have their own arguments against the Little Woman who acted with impunity during her time. One such argument is written in blood--the blood of the martyrs in the gruesome Maguindanao massacre which has been linked to her through the barbaric Ampatuans, the alleged perpetrators of the the mass murders.

FACEBOOK LOVER 2 IN MODERN HAIKU

facebook lover 2 in modern haiku

la senorita de mindoro
crisscrosses the mind:
el silencio de las flores
del monte

Photo captions: Summer Grape Court in Winchester, CA and sunflowers near a flea market in the area along highway

Qs In Philo Two On Gloria's Woes

1. Human act is an act done by man with full knowledge and deliberation. An act of man is an act done without full knowledge and/or deliberation.

How do the kinds of ignorance affect responsibility?

2. He/she is either responsible or not responsible depending upon his kind of ignorance. If his ignorance is classified as invincible, he is absolved of responsibility but in so far as the moral law is concerned. He is not excused from responsibility when he transgresses civil law unknowingly as a result of his ignorance. If his ignorance is vincible, he is not absolved completely of responsibility.

How does fear affect responsibility?

3. A person acting through fear or out of fear is not responsible for his act because he is not free; he is, therefore, absolved of responsibility.

Freedom gives the person the option to do or not to do an act. But whether he accomplishes the act or not, he is responsible for it.

The above is also applied to Lintang Bedol, the Mindanao election supervisor, now in government custody. As a government witness against Gloria?

No Wrong Doing?

Magat High Dam in Aginaldo, Ramon, Isabela and women daoing their laundry at the Padsan River (right)

A Pasay city court yesterday issued
an arrest warrant against Gloria Arroyo who headed what has been described as the country's most corrupt administration. The charge was electoral sabotage. There was no wrongdoing on my part, she said through a spokesperson.

The case, a senatorial election, occurred in Mindanao where Bedol, the highest ranking election officer in Maguindanao, was ordered by Gloria to tamper with the votes, which he did successfully, and drew protest from all walks of life in the county. She already admitted then that she cheated in the election that catapulted her to the office of the President of the Philippines.

Earlier, the Supreme Court, most of them her appointees, allowed her to travel to Singapore to seek treatment for a rare bone disease.

Gloria, during her time, violated the law with impunity. This time the law will be applied against her with all its mighty force.

It's Friday. Pag-asa earlier predicted that on this day the rains would stop and understandably the sun would be be out in all its glory. I will be taking out my laundry, which I washed yesterday, to dry in the sun.

A plan to go to Laoag tomorrow. The package from Hawaii arrived a long time ago, and Ligaya has been sending text messages inquiring when would I go there.

WAITING FOR THE PACMAN-MARQUEZ 3

Typed and sent article, "Ne, Kuripot kano dagiti Ilokano," to Franklin and Binnong for the Dec 2011 issue of Timpuyog Journal. The short piece was written by a high school student from a Catholic school in Alicia, Isabela.While waiting for the boxing bout between the Pacman and his Mexican rival. It's now 9:37 in the morning. Fight is sked to start at ll: 30 am.

Fight which ended at 1 pm lasted the full 12 rounds. Manny won by a majority decision. It could have gone to Juan Manuel Marquez who was good at counter punching, keeping Manny at bay.

Our initial assessment of Pacquiao's lethargic performance: he peaked when his training was at the last stages. He was over-trained.

Now 11: 12 am. The boxing bout will come in the hour. It's November 13 in the Philippines.
A majority judges' decision for Manny. But many Filipinos thought Marquez won the fight. I noted the aggressiveness of Pacquiao--Marquez was not initiating the fight but only counter-punching- which could have won the referees' nod.


Photo caption: Manny Pacquiao San Miguel ad at the entrance of a Filipino store in Cerritos, near LA. Other photos during a night out in Las Vegas.